The Rocket Heiress
by Dream Ablaze
Summary: After her mother dies, a girl must go live with her deadbeat dad. Unfortunately, he also happens to be Giovanni. xD On top of things, she has weird Pokemon following her around! Will her life ever be normal again? The answer, of course, is NO. xD
1. Prologue: She Used to be Happy

Disclaimer: I do SO own Pokemon. That's why I'm writing a fanfiction.

**Prologue: She Used to be Happy**

_This is just a prologue (as it says above). xD So not much is happening in this chapter, and it's really short. It's basically just to give you a background to the plot, and the main character. She's an OC, but the daughter of Giovanni... all right:3 Oh, and her mom's identity won't be revealed right now. :o_

She used to be happy.

That was back before it all changed, before she left her old life behind.

It had only been about a year ago that she'd left Mahogany Town in Johto and traveled all the way to Kanto. Some parts of it were blurred; some parts she remembered like they were yesterday.

It had been a nice day in Mahogany Town, as it usually was. She was actually up at the Lake of Rage, swimming. It was something she used to do often. The Magikarp didn't bother her if she didn't bother them. She spent many days up at the lake, doing laps and racing and playing in the water with her friends. She was never one of the girls who had to work on her tan, because she spent so much time up there. Over summer especially. When she went back to school in Goldenrod, all the girls who lived in the city were jealous of her.

That day, none of her friends were there. She remembered they'd gone to shop in Goldenrod, but her mother had made her stay behind. She'd been so mad at her for not letting her go, but her mom had said she had too much homework that day. Of course, she'd finished all her homework by late afternoon and hiked up to the lake anyway, just to cool off. She was mad at her mom a lot lately, mostly because she was so strict.

Just before she'd left, she remembered their conversation.

"Where are you going?" her mother asked, seeing her leaving the house with her bag.

"Swimming," she said. It should have been obvious. That was the bag she always took when she went to the lake.

"Did you finish your homework?" her mom asked, suspiciously.

"Yes, Mom," she answered, a tinge of annoyance in her voice. She didn't have a quick temper unless she was provoked. Actually, she had been voted 'Sweetest Girl' at her school two years in a row. But lately, her mom didn't let her do anything. It wasn't fair. She knew that they had to be careful, but still.

"Who are you going with?"

"Nobody, Mom. They're all in Goldenrod, remember?"

"When will you be back?"

"I don't know! God, leave me alone! Will you _ever_ stop nagging me?" With that, she stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind her and walking angrily to the northern path.

The lake had been boring that day. Nobody was there besides the grizzled old fishermen. There weren't even many Magikarp swimming by. She did a few laps from side to side of the lake, and when she arrived back, she was breathing heavily. She didn't feel any less annoyed. A few more hours of swimming to wear out her muscles and she felt a little less angry, though she still didn't want to go back home. She sat by the lake for awhile, until the bugs began to appear and the sky was turning pale and red. She hugged her knees to her chest, but she still didn't want to go back. Maybe her mom was worried. Good! She wanted her to be worried. Maybe then she'd feel bad, and let her go to Goldenrod next time.

Finally, when the sun had set completely, and she counted two bug bites on her arms, she packed up her things and headed back towards town. She was hungry, after all, and she'd waited long enough.

When she got back after the long walk, there was a crowd gathered around her house. She hurried up, confused.

"What's going on?"

"Oh! It's you," said her elderly neighbor. She didn't even know her name.

"What's going _on_?" she repeated.

"There… was a robbery," she said, averting her eyes.

She couldn't remember much after that. Just a blur of everything that had happened. Pushing past the crowd, past the police, into her house. Seeing her mother's dead body, just lying there, still and pale, on the ground. Her eyes were wide open, staring at nothing, her lips parted. She'd been shot in her left temple.

She would always see her mother's dead face in her mind. It would never leave. But, after a year, it had paled in her mind, until she didn't wake up every night in a cold sweat. Until she could close her eyes without seeing her mother's wide eyes staring back at her. Lifeless.

The robber hadn't stolen much. A few antiques and valuables, but nothing else of much importance. Besides her mother's life, of course. Everything else paled in comparison to that.

She remembered she went to stay with her friend and her family for a little while. But she couldn't stay forever. And soon, of course, her father found out that her mother was dead.

And then, he called her.

He wanted her to come live with him.

All the way in Kanto. Viridian, to be exact. And could she say no? Of course not. With her mother gone, the only family she had left was her father. The one who paid child support religiously but never saw her.

She'd met him twice, she thought. Both when she was younger, he'd come to see her, and taken her out for the day. Her mother wasn't pleased, but he'd said he had a right to at least _see_ her. The first time, he'd taken her out for ice cream, and she'd accidentally dropped it on his fancy suit. He'd swore, then told her he wasn't angry, though she wasn't sure if she believed him. The second time, she's asked too many questions and he'd looked bored with her. She asked if she could have dessert, but he said he had to get her home. Maybe he was remembering the first time.

In any case, she didn't feel she needed him. Her mother rarely spoke of him, and when she did, she wasn't exactly full of compliments. Once, when she was thirteen, she'd gotten in a fight with her over it. At school, a girl had laughed at her when she said she'd only met her dad twice. But after the fight, she knew her father didn't want her, and so she didn't want him either. Sure, he sent her a card for Christmas and each year for her birthday (though each one was severely belated), but she didn't want anything to do with him. She knew nothing about him, and wanted to keep it that way.

Only now, she had no choice.

She'd talked to him on the phone. She remembered that conversation perfectly too. It was possibly one of the most awkward ones she'd had – at least, up until that point. Once she started living with her father, it was all small talk and awkward pauses.

"How are you?" he'd asked.

"Fine." She didn't feel much, anyway. If she didn't feel pain, it meant she was fine, she told herself. And she reduced herself to mono-syllabic answers as much as she could.

"So… you're coming to live with me, yes?"

"Mm." The preparations had already been made. He knew it, and she did too.

"I think you'll like it here. I have an extra room that I'm turning into a bedroom for you."

"Okay."

"So, you're coming next week, right? Taking the train to Saffron?"

"Right."

"I'll pick you up from the station at five. That's when it arrives, correct?"

"Uh-huh."

"Well… I'll be there. You remember what I look like?"

"Yep."

"Good. So… okay… I'll see you Monday."

"Tuesday," she corrected.

"Right."

Her friends had all gone with her to the train station in Goldenrod to say their goodbyes. It was ironic. She now dreaded going to Goldenrod, where the day her mother died she wanted to go there so badly.

She'd hugged them, and smiled, and then she'd been on her way. The train ride wasn't as long as she thought it would be, and soon she stepped onto the tiled floor in the station, suitcases in either hand, and backpack on, predictably, her back.

He'd been waiting there, too, a nervous smile painted on his face. As if he wasn't quite sure _how_ to smile. He'd rushed to help her with her bags, and led her to his town car, idling outside. He had a driver, who took her things and put them in the trunk. Then they'd sped away towards Viridian. He'd made small talk with her the whole way.

It turned out he lived in a mansion. It was barely even in Viridian, instead being tucked away in the hills. There were huge gates, and a guard who watched the cars entering and leaving. He recognized the driver, and let them in.

She looked out the window at her new home as they rolled up the circular driveway. It was a great, sprawling estate. But it was private, with trees and fences everywhere, covering pieces of it up. She thought she spotted a tennis court, but she couldn't be sure: it vanished as soon as it had appeared.

As she walked through the huge house, she was amazed at all the different things she saw. Priceless pieces of art, hanging glass chandeliers, marble floors and vaulted ceilings and furniture straight out of a catalog. It all went by in a blur, though, because all she could remember once she'd reached her new room was, well, her room.

It was on the third story, and had its own _tower_, with window seats and windows that looked out at the estate and at a distant Mt. Moon, with Cerulean past it. She had her own chandelier, and a canopy, king-sized bed. The room was spacious, with a fluffy white carpet, and her own 'office' area, with her own PC. And her closet was more run-a-marathon-in closet than a walk-in.

The only thing her father had forgotten, when decorating her room, was that she was sixteen, and not ten, the age she'd seen him last. The room's walls were light pink, along with the bedspread, pillows, canopy, and basically everything else in the room. She hated pink.

The whole house seemed so foreign to her. She barely could find her way around it. It was too big, and she got lost. Once she had ended up in the laundry room when really she was trying to get outside. There were maids and a cook and even a _butler_.

And then there was her school. It was in Viridian, but it was so small. She had what the kids there called 'a Johto accent', and she didn't get along with them very much. She didn't care. She was quiet, and wanted to be alone. The times people talked to her, she usually snapped back at them. She didn't want to talk to anyone. She already had friends, and she didn't need any more.

Yes, it had been a year since her mother died. She started to be able to navigate herself around the house better. She knew a little bit more about her dad, but not much. She knew he was the Gym Leader in Viridian, but he had another job too. He was never around, and everyone at school complained about not being able to battle him. They whined at her to tell him to open the gym up, but she ignored them.

She used to be happy. But that seemed so far behind that she couldn't even remember what it was like to laugh. It had all ended when her mother had died. Her wonderful, loving mother, who worried about her because she _loved_ her.

It was a year later now, but nothing much had changed. Yet.

_Eep, sorry if it was all broody. :3 Don't worry, it'll get more interesting soon! Remember, that was only the prologue, and really, who doesn't have an angsty prologue? xD No, you didn't miss her name: I never said it. Don't fret, I will next chapter. xD Anyway, please review!_


	2. Toast and Butterfrees

**Chapter One: Toast and Butterfrees**

"Mika! Time to wake up!" came Mrs. Responsible's voice.

Mika, of course, was already quite awake, thank you. She sat in her bed, reclining on the pink silk pillows. It seemed everything in her room was pink besides her. Her skin was the palest it'd ever been, and she felt lifeless and dull. She even had bags under her eyes that went away only when she took a shower. Was she still even the same person? Here she was, an insomniac, when before her mom had always joked that she could fall asleep anywhere, anytime.

For awhile now, she'd been watching the seemingly insane Pidgey that landed on her windowsill and did some kind of strange dance, as if it was trying to entertain her. She'd noticed that the Pokemon around here were kind of… well, abnormal, to say the least. Some seemed ordinary, then there were the ones like the dancing Pidgey. It came and performed for her every morning, even when she had school – yet it had a different dance every time.

"Are you up, Mika?" Mrs. Responsible asked from the hall. Her name wasn't really Mrs. Responsible, but Mika had long ago forgotten what she was supposed to call her, along with everyone else in the house.

"Yeah." She didn't know why Mrs. Responsible was 'waking her up' so early, though. It was a Saturday, and, she recalled, summer. When she did sleep, she slept in. Or watched Dancing Pidgey.

"Your father's taking you out for breakfast in an hour!"

"Oh…" Mika dragged herself out of bed.

"You'd better get dressed!"

"I will!"

Mrs. Responsible finally stopped talking, and presumably left. Mika sighed, then retreated to her huge closet. Her clothes barely filled half of it, though she'd always had many more clothes than her friends, who were always borrowing from her. Somehow, her collection looked small and dull in the impressive closet, bigger than her living room at home. Her old home, anyway.

Finally, Mika decided not to bother much with her appearance today and chose some boring clothes: old blue jeans, black sweatshirt, green shirt. She fished a pair of dark green sneakers out of her pile of shoes, then headed to her bathroom.

Before, she'd shared a bathroom with her mother. Now she had her own one, and it was far bigger than the one she'd had before. Startlingly white, her bathroom was sleek and pristine: a haven made of marble and glass (both clear and frosted). She'd noticed that a lot of the house was made of glass and crystal, from the counters to the chandeliers to the gigantic mirrors to the staircases (though they were made, of course, of something stronger than glass. In any case, it still gave the same effect) and Mika had begun to feel she was living in a house of ice. She'd heard it called the Glass Manor.

Her bathroom had a glass shower, a crystal bathtub, a glass sink, and a glass-countered vanity with a lighted mirror. It seemed the only thing not made of glass or crystal was the toilet, made of the same marble as the floor.

After she'd emerged from her shower, she dressed and stared at herself in the mirror. Instead of seeing the red-cheeked girl from before, she was now pale and gaunt. Her dark curls (obviously inherited from her father) had become limp and lifeless. Her amber eyes had an expressionless quality to them as well.

She gave her reflection a last glare before she left the bathroom and her room. Heading down the clear stairs, she passed the second story and reached the first floor, with its spotless hardwood floors. Mika didn't spend much time down there, except to eat sometimes, but on cold days the floor was heated. Now, though, it was bright and sunny.

Mika looked around. Was she supposed to meet her father somewhere? Cautiously, she made her way into the darker hallway, the area he called his office. There were often other people in the rooms, though she still didn't know quite what she did. She didn't ask him very many questions. For that matter, she didn't talk to him when she didn't have to.

She knocked on the door at the end of the hall, the room she'd never seen the inside of.

"What?" demanded Giovanni's voice.

"Uh, it's Mika." She was slightly taken aback at the angry sound in his voice. He'd never sounded very annoyed with her, just tired. Around others, of course, she'd noticed he got angry easily, but with her, it seemed he just didn't know what to do.

"Mika!" he sounded surprised too. The door opened, and he looked down at her.

"I heard you were taking me somewhere," she said, dully.

"Right. To breakfast?"

She nodded.

"Will you tell Benedict to start the car? I'll be out in a moment."

Mika turned, and walked back out to the entry hall. She didn't exactly know where Benedict was, but she left the house through the side door into the garage. Sure enough (and oddly enough), Benedict was already seated behind the wheel of the town car, resulting in Mika wondering if he ever left.

She opened the door, making Benedict jump. When he saw her, he nodded. "Good morning, Miss Mika. Please accept my apologies for not opening the door."

"It's okay. He said to start the car up." Mika settled into the soft leather seat. She'd called her father 'he', like usual. Mika was never quite sure what to call him. He wasn't a 'Dad', obviously. But 'Giovanni' didn't seem right either. She wished there was some kind of appropriate term for someone you'd only met really a year ago that you just happened to share genes with.

Benedict started the car, eyes on the review mirrors. They were pointed to face the door Giovanni would exit from. "Where am I taking you today?"

"I'm not sure." Mika bit down on her thumbnail. Biting her nails was a bad habit she'd recently acquired. She'd tried to give it up, but couldn't quite. She was trying to remember how she'd given it up before, when she was younger, but it had seemed so easy then. Her mother said she'd just grown out of it.

"There he is," Benedict said, leaving the car. He opened the door, and Giovanni got inside next to Mika. After him came his ever-present Persian, a tan panther-like cat which had taken an immediate dislike for Mika. It never showed it around Giovanni, though. Mika thought that Persian probably just disliked everyone, except for its master.

And, of course, cats never liked her much.

"To the Launch Café, Benedict," Giovanni ordered. The garage door opened, and the town car rolled out of the building and down the driveway. They'd left the estate before Giovanni turned to Mika.

"I had realized we hadn't had breakfast together yet," he said.

Mika was busy counting the number of times he'd just said 'had'. "Oh?"

"And now that it's summer, I wanted to take you to my favorite restaurant. For breakfast, that is."

"Okay." She wondered exactly _why_ he was taking her out, but maybe it was what he'd said: he hadn't eaten one breakfast with her yet, and perhaps he felt guilty. Maybe he'd been reading up on what fathers were supposed to do, and having breakfast at least annually was on the list.

They drove the rest of the ride in silence, and Mika looked out the window at the café they pulled up beside. It was outside Pewter City, in the northeast section, but far off the beaten path.

Benedict went in with them. The waitress recognized them, and led them to a room of their own. "The usual spot," she'd called it. Then she'd closed the door, and left them in solitude. Mika knew her father was rich, but she was continually surprised as to _how_ rich he was.

The menu was full of fancy breakfast dishes. The one that sounded the most normal to Mika was some sort of omelet that she couldn't pronounce. She didn't even _like_ eggs, but she wasn't sure what the others were. Then, she spotted toast. It was on brioche bread and came with marmalade and fresh strawberry preserves.

"So… what do you usually have for breakfast?" Giovanni asked her.

"Cereal," Mika answered.

"Ah. I think they have that here." He scanned the menu. "Yes, hot cereal with gold raisins, cream, brown sugar, and oregano."

Mika had no idea why anyone would put oregano on oatmeal, but she didn't ask. "I meant cold cereal. You know, like… Cheerios."

He had to think a minute before a spark of realization speared in his eyes. "Ah, right."

She blinked. "Please tell me you've heard of Cheerios."

"I've heard of Cheerios."

Mika wasn't satisfied, but before she could say anything else, the waitress returned.

"What can I get you?" she asked. "The usual, boss? Benedict?"

"Yes," Giovanni said, glancing toward Mika. She assumed it was to see if she'd heard the waitress call him boss. Her eyes stayed stubbornly on the menu, going over it like she was making a last-minute decision. She'd heard it, of course, and it unleashed a thousand questions in her head. Did he own this restaurant, or something?

"Miss?"

Mika closed the menu, and looked up innocently. "Oh, I'll have… the toast. And coffee, black."

Her order obviously surprised Giovanni almost as much as it would have surprised her friends. She'd been famous for hating coffee before. But now nothing was the same, was it?

"Nothing more?" her father asked her, to which she shook her head. The waitress whisked away their menus.

"I always get Eggs Benedict," Benedict said proudly. Mika decided then and there that his new nickname would be precisely that.

She wondered exactly why he was there, if he was their driver. Maybe he doubled as a guard when they went out. But then shouldn't he be guarding the door, talking in a walkie-talkie as she'd seen some mysterious people doing back at the Glass Manor? Maybe, she thought, Eggs Benedict was Giovanni's secret lover! But why would he act as their driver, then?

"So…" Giovanni's voice cut into her thoughts, "how is your summer so far?"

It had been a week since school had thankfully ended, and only one (albeit long and looming) year left before Mika was finally free. Oh, of course there was always college, but she didn't feel like thinking about that now. That would only lead to more uncertainty, especially as to what she should even _study_. She didn't know what she was interested in, and instead of making compulsive lists like she would have a year ago, she tried to push it from her mind so that she didn't have to think about it.

"Uh, fine." Didn't Mrs. Responsible tell him about what she did all day? Stayed in her room and did something, anything she could to not fall asleep from boredom? She left the house rarely, and didn't even really go outside much in the huge yard. She overlooked some of them from her tower window, and saw a rose garden and a hulking hedge maze, but she'd never really attempted to go through it (though she vaguely remembered as a child how much she'd wanted to go through a real hedge maze).

"What have you been doing?"

"Just… reading, and stuff. And going on the computer?"

His brow furrowed. "I see." He seemed like he wanted to ask something else, but didn't know how to say it tactfully. Persian yawned and lay down, head on its paws. "You don't have a summer job, right?"

"Nope."

"Well then, how would you like to work for me?"

She looked up from her ornate glass of water. "For you?" she repeated. She didn't even know what he _did_, much less have an idea if she'd even be interested in a job there.

"Right. Just some simple things… Treasury and keeping track of some accounts."

So she had been right when she thought he had a boring job. Accounting, of some kind. Blah.

"It would really give you experience in the business world," he continued, looking rather excited about the whole thing.

Eggs Benedict nodded. "He's right! Why do you think I've been working just as a _driver_ for your father for twenty years?"

_Uh, because you can't bear to leave him?_ Mika thought.

"It's great to be in any way associated with his company," Eggs Benedict answered.

Mika nodded. "Okay."

"So, would you like the job?" Giovanni asked her. "You'll be paid, of course."

It wasn't as if she needed money – he was insistent now that she spend extravagantly (guilt, perhaps?). She had her own bank account with more money than she even needed for college, along with a shiny plastic credit card (billed to him). She didn't really care about the experience, either. It wasn't as if she was going to spend her life doing something boring like economics. But the job also offered something to _do_, besides sit around and be bored. That was the only thing that mattered to her.

"Sure," she said. "When do I start?"

"Excellent! How about Monday?"

"Okay."

* * *

The next day was Sunday, and Mika was determined to do something active. She woke with a sense of determination, and quickly got dressed. She'd actually planned on going through the hedge maze, but when she ended up behind a tool shed somewhere in the backyard, she figured she was lost. Why have a hedge maze when the whole estate was one?

"They should have a map of this place," she muttered, as she looked around for the millionth time, trying to get her bearings. How could she have been there for a year and not know her way around yet? It was kind of pathetic.

There were too many tall trees blocking the way, and finally she gave up, for now. Plopping down onto a bench that reminded her she wasn't lost in a forest, she leaned back and sighed. Even when she'd been in Mahogany, going up to the Lake of Rage, she'd never gotten lost, and that was a winding path. Why was everything here so much harder than there?

"Frreeeeh!" came a voice behind her. Turning around, her dark curls partially obstructing her view, Mika saw a huge Butterfree kind of… hovering there. It was watching her intently with its big eyes.

Dredging up some of her ninth-grade biology, Mika frowned. Weren't Butterfrees supposed to be a lot smaller? This one was almost as big as her. It kind of scared her, until she felt stupid for being afraid of a butterfly.

"Er, hi," she said, giving it a half-hearted wave.

"Freeeehhhaaa!" it shrieked, in its strangely horse-like way.

"Are you Giovanni's?" she asked. She knew he had a collection of Pokemon.

It stared at her, then shook its head. "Freee." Then it came to rest beside her, balancing on its tiny feet on the bench.

Feeling increasingly stupid, Mika wasn't sure what she should do. She'd never owned a Pokemon, and wasn't exactly sure how to talk to one, or even if she should.

"It's a… nice day, huh?" Okay, now she was as awkward as her father when he talked to her.

"FREEEAHHH!" it suddenly exclaimed, making her jump. Its wings started beating faster and faster.

"Ahh! Calm down!" Mika stood up, slowly backing away. Was this thing going to attack her, or something?

It flew at her. Turning to run, Mika didn't get very far before it swooped in front of her and glittery dust appeared from its beating wings. The dust rested on her, and as she breathed in, she felt drowsy. Her eyes were heavy, and the last thing she could remember before she fell asleep was the maniacal "FREAHAHA!"

* * *

_Aww, it was a lot shorter than I'd been planning on. D: Sorry, but I've been so busy lately. I promise the next chapter will be actually long! Anyway, please review!_


	3. Cookies and Fire

**Chapter Two: Cookies and Fire**

"_Mommy?" asked Mika. Her curly hair was pinned into two pigtails, as she'd always worn it when she was five._

_She had woken her mother up. "What is it, Mika?" Her mother had the bleary-eyed look of someone who'd just been awakened, but she sat up, worried look on her face._

"_My teacher said there's a big thing tomorrow, and we hafta make food for it."_

_Her mother visibly relaxed, leaning back against her headboard now that she knew they weren't in any danger. "Oh, Mika – "_

"_I know it is late, but it's really, _really_ important." Mika's eyes, already large, widened._

"_Mika, can't it wait until the morning?"_

"_No."_

"_We can wake up early and make it then," yawned her mother._

"_No."_

"_You're going to force me to make this now for you, aren't you?"_

"_No."_

_Mika's mother smiled, happy that her plan had worked. She pulled the blanket back up around her, and lay down, closing her eyes. "Okay. Goodnight, honey."_

"_I'm going to force you to _help_ me make it," Mika said innocently. "She said we gotta have adult supervision or we might burn the house down or something. If you don't really care 'bout the house, then I guess it's okay, but – "_

"_Never mind." Mika's mother sat up. "I'm already awake, anyway." She peered at Mika. "You know, you're quite the manipulator."_

"_Thank you," Mika beamed._

-x-

Mika's dream was suddenly interrupted: now she was being attacked by something rough and slimy. When she realized she wasn't exactly dreaming, she scrunched up her face and moved away from it before she opened her eyes cautiously.

Before her sat an obese Growlithe, its tongue lolling out of its mouth as it sat there, staring foolishly at her.

"Uhh…" Mika tried the best she could to wipe the dog drool off her face, not exactly knowing how she'd gotten there. Then, she remembered: the evil Butterfree! It must have put her to sleep using its powder… stuff.

She looked around, confused. How had she gotten _here_, then? She was lying beside the rose garden, the hedge maze just a few feet away. Somewhere, she heard a waterfall of some kind. Had the Butterfree taken her here, or the Growlithe? What was even going _on_ in her life?

"You must be Giovanni's, right?" she asked, patting the Growlithe. It sneezed, and she smiled a tiny bit at its expression. "Did you take me here?" Once again, the dog-like creature gave no clear answer.

She sighed and stood up. "Okay…" Her amber eyes scanned around her, searching for the Butterfree, but it was nowhere to be seen. She might as well do the hedge maze, since she was here. Maybe she just hadn't gotten enough sleep, and that was all.

She looked down to the Growlithe at her side. "Do you want to go through the maze with me?" she asked it.

"Grrr-oww grrrrr-ow!"

A few minutes later, they were lost in the thicket of the maze. Mika's pants were caked with mud (she could barely see her shoes) and dog drool. And while the Growlithe pranced ahead, apparently happy at being lost, Mika was a little less enthusiastic. She really thought it strange that Giovanni would let his hedge maze have anything like mud in it, but realized he wasn't really the kind to go through hedge mazes anyway. Which led to the question of why he even had it. To look at? Possibly.

She hadn't seen any of his famous Pokemon collection while she walked through the maze, except for the Growlithe. But it seemed too happy-go-lucky for her father, who would obviously want one that acted, well, just like his Persian.

She guessed she was like her father in that way. The puppy Pokemon was wearing her out.

"Wait _up_, Growlithe," she sighed. "This mud is like quick sand."

Sure enough, her shoes sank, became stuck, and finally were tugged on with such force that they came flying out, splattering mud everywhere, with a great THWACK sound that soon became Mika's least favorite noise. Her shirt was now even dotted with spots of mud, making her look more like a farmer who had worked all day in the fields rather than the daughter of a millionaire (or possibly billionaire?).

After nearly a half an hour of splattering mud all over her good temper, Mika was fed up. She no longer wanted to be in this stupid maze, and wondered why she'd ever gone in it in the first place. All she wanted to do was take a shower and sleep and never see mud again.

"Hey, come here, Growlithe!" she called, suddenly getting an idea – desperate as it was. The puppy bounded over. "Okay, stay right there…" she told it. Then, she climbed up on its back, reaching for the top of the hedge wall next to her. Grabbing onto it, she still rested her feet on the sturdy Growlithe. She dragged herself up and on top of the tightly packed leaves, and looked around. The sight of the huge hedge maze made her head spin, and she saw no way out that could be memorized. Furthermore, she didn't even know what direction to go in, since the exit was north but the path to it went in all directions.

Feeling also slightly dizzy from the height, she slid back down and landed on the ground with a muddy welcome. Growlithe grinned at her, then began to roll on the ground. When it got up, mud was covering its fur like a sticky overcoat.

"That makes one of us who likes the mud," Mika muttered.

An evil grin spread across the Growlithe's face and it suddenly shook. Mud flew off it and onto Mika, splattering it all over her face and hair.

"Ahh!" she cried. Once she'd wiped it off her face with her reasonably-clean sleeve, she opened her eyes to glare at the Growlithe, but it was gone. She saw footprints leading away.

Preparing to race off after it and exact her revenge, Mika raised one of her feet from the ground – only it stuck. She tried again, but it was held fast by the mud. When she had dropped back down to the ground, the fall had made her heavier, she'd gotten completely stuck. Pulling her foot as hard as she could, it suddenly flew out of her shoe, leaving it there, surrounded by mud. The force she'd pulled it out with sent her falling forward, only able to save herself from falling face-flat in the mud by stepping down on the muddy ground hard with her socked foot.

Mika sighed as her shoe-less foot became immersed entirely in mud. She looked at her shoe, almost completely covered with muck, and realized she'd rather leave it there for now. She pulled her other foot out, shoe still on thankfully, and began to hurry after the Growlithe stiffly.

If her mood had been sour before, now it was even worse. She tracked the Growlithe's pawprints as if she were following a map to some ancient city of gold. Or better, platinum. She ignored the thwacking of her feet and tried to focus on what it would be like when she got back to the house and could soak in a hot bath. She thought of chocolates and her fluffy robe and her pink yet comfortable bed and watching OnDemand (never without its supply of trashy movies) or TiVo (she'd noticed that her favorite episode of _Gilmore Girls_ had just been recorded). These were the thoughts that kept her motivated as she struggled on, vengeful look on her face and a hedge-branch in her hand (this was a rather mysterious item; she must have torn it off violently, though she couldn't remember when).

Like a wise old tracker man, Mika kneeled over, testing the mud with one finger on the rim of a Growlithe print. "Still warm," she muttered, though it was really just still gooey and not really warm. This gave her energy to go faster, and she ran through the evil mud as it thwacked around her, following the tracks. In the still sane part of her mind, she thought it a wonder that she wasn't foaming at the mouth or turning green and ripping her clothes off.

Finally, to her immense animal-like delight, she rounded the corner and realized the tracks had stopped. Then, slowly, as if she was awakening from her drunken stupor, she realized the tracks ended at a dead end. The Growlithe had somehow led her here, though she had no idea how it'd gotten away. Had it jumped over the hedge maze?

While she pondered this, she heard a mocking voice just on the other side of the maze. "Grrr-ow ow!" The effect of it was so startling that Mika jumped, lost her balance, and fell face-down into the mud. After heaving herself back up again, she leaned back on her knees and yelled, "ARRRGGHHHH!"

Perhaps, after all, she was the Hulk.

-x-

"_So, what do you want to make?" Mika's mother asked. She was still a bit tired, as was evident from the rings around her eyes._

_Mika stared up at her mother. "Cookies?"_

"_Is that what your teacher wanted you to make?"_

"_I think so. Well, she didn't say. But cookies are good."_

"_You know, for potlucks at school, you're not allowed to eat whatever you make. You have to eat everyone else's food." It was obvious she wanted Mika to make something easy and healthy. More like celery. Or possibly grass, handpicked from the garden._

"_I still want cookies."_

"_You don't want… string cheese?"_

"_Mommy, ew!"_

"_I know, you hate string cheese. So what kind of cookies?"_

"_Chocolate chip?"_

"_Okay, chocolate chip it is, then." Her mother pulled out a myriad of ingredients from the shelf as Mika watched in wonder._

"_So for a pot-lock, we bring food?"_

"_Potluck," her mom corrected, then answered, "That's right."_

"_Then what?"_

"_Well, you share it with everyone."_

"_Then what?"_

"_Well, after everyone's had some, you bring the rest back home."_

_Mika thought for a moment, silently. "Maybe the ones on top can have nuts in them."_

"_Nuts? Why?"_

"_Well, most won't have nuts in them. Just the ones on the top."_

"_But you hate nuts."_

"_I won't be eating them, remember? And _everyone_ hates nuts."_

"_Then why do you want nuts in the top ones?"_

"_Well, it's pretty simple," Mika said. "If there's nuts at the top, they'll think there's nuts in all of them. Then nobody will take any. And so I can bring all them home."_

_Mika's mother turned to stare at her for a moment. "You sure have a business plan, don't you?"_

_Mika smiled at her. "Yup."_

-x-

Mika lay, exhausted, on her bed, watching a bad chick flick she wasn't really following. She had opted for the bad movies over the _Gilmore Girls _rerun, mostly because she already had a whole folder of new episodes to watch anyway, so she didn't feel like watching her favorite episode. A whole season had gone by since she'd watched it, but she'd held off watching all of them. Of course, she was dying to see what happened, and dying for Logan to die, but it somehow felt wrong watching it without her mom. They'd always watched it together before. Even when they were fighting, they'd watch it together and usually would forget their anger halfway through the show, when they'd be concocting strange sundaes (Caribbean Peppermint, Blueberry-Caramel-Lemon, and the War of Skittles vs. M&Ms were a few favorites) during the commercial breaks.

Trying to not think of anything important, so she wouldn't start feeling the hollow, achy sensation in her chest that she hated, she tried to immerse herself into the movie she was watching. Maybe it could be her new favorite thing to watch.

"You skanky whore! You stole my fiancée at the altar!"

"I only did that because I'm the one he really loves!"

"No you're not! You only got him because the witch doctor brewed you a love potion!"

"You liar!"

"Then why did he choose to come with me?"

"_You_ got a love potion from the witch doctor!"

"Ohmigod, I hate you!"

"I hate you more!"

Mika sighed and collapsed, turning off the TV. "You'll have a job tomorrow. At least that's _something_ to do." Her stomach suddenly rumbled, and she realized she hadn't eaten since breakfast (if she didn't count the mass quantities of chocolate consumed after her maze incident).

Leaving her room, Mika headed downstairs. Once she'd reached the first floor, she made her way to the kitchen, and tried to sneak past the chef, but there was no way _that_ was happening.

"Good evening, Miss Mika! How may I help you?" The cook was reassuringly overweight but unreassuringly had a long beard that was covered with garlic pieces. He was mincing it for what must have been Giovanni's dinner, which he always took in his office.

"Uh, I'm okay," Mika said. She suddenly looked around, dazed by the bright lights of the kitchen. It, of course, was made of glass and crystal and marble. She caught herself staring at the counter, which was glass or at least something transparent. She could see everything in the drawers underneath it.

She'd never really been in the kitchen before, and felt sort of strange. Was she allowed in there? Maybe she was supposed to sit and wait for someone in the dining hall. But then what, would someone come and take her order?

"Do you need anything?"

"No, I just came to get some…" Mika was at a loss for words. "Uh… milk!" she finished proudly, heading to the fridge and opening it. She came face-to-face with a rather gruesome looking frozen bird.

"That's the freezer," the cook supplied.

"Right!" Mika's fridge in Mahogany Town had the freezer on top, with the fridge below. These were French-door type refrigerators, the kind she'd seen in her dentist's waiting room's magazines but never in person.

She opened the other door, and suddenly all she saw were eggs, everywhere. Confused, she looked back at the chef. "Uhh…"

"That's the meat fridge," he told her.

"Meat fridge?" Mika blinked. Why anyone would have more than one fridge was beyond her. She also hadn't known that eggs were put in a meat category. "Are eggs meat?" she asked, though she'd meant to ask the other question.

"Why, if they're fertile eggs, then yes! They're little baby… Spearows!"

Mika stared at him, suddenly feeling nauseous. "So… all those things in there… were little Spearow embryos?"

"No, of course not! We don't have fertile eggs."

"Then… are non-fertile eggs meat?"

"No!"

"Why do you call that fridge the meat one, then?"

"We don't!" The chef laughed eerily.

Mika nodded, giving a huge fake smile. "Okaay… Where's your dairy fridge, then?"

"Why, you're looking for yogurt?"

"No, actually, mil – "

"You know yogurt is mold, right? Wait, maybe that's cheese. I never learned my fungi very well! Wait, is mold fungi?"

"I think so!" Mika started rushing around the room, opening fridges at random. She found the fruit and vegetable fridges, but no dairy one yet.

"All I know about fungi is I'm a fun guy!" He laughed heartily. "I learned that one in med school!"

"Do you know where the dairy fridge is?" Mika cried, not knowing or caring why he'd gone to med school.

"Well, sure!"

"Where is it?" she snapped, finally cracking. She'd suddenly just seen the similarity between the cook and the Growlithe, and didn't want this to end with her being stuck in mud again.

"Why, right next to you!"

Mika threw open the fridge and saw rows and rows of milk. There was even a half shelf filled with mini-bottles of chocolate milk, and she grabbed one of these.

"Oh, swell! You found my favorites! I guess we'll have to start getting more!"

Mika stalked out of the kitchen without another word.

"Do come again!"

As she hurried up the stairs, she ran into her father, who was coming down. He looked at her strangely, as if she had suddenly grown an alien out of her forehead or something.

"How… are you?" he asked, awkwardly.

"Fine." She wanted to go upstairs, but he was saying more.

"I heard you got lost in the hedge maze today?"

She turned red and looked down. She could see through the stairs below her, which gave them a sort of nice floaty feeling, except it mostly just gave her vertigo. "Yeah."

"The gardener said he found you covered in mud, with no shoes on."

Mika winced. She'd pleaded with the gardener, her savior, not to tell anyone. "I actually only lost _one_ shoe."

"Of course, when I heard about it, I was obviously very angry with the help for letting you get lost. I also made some improvements to the hedge maze. I believe you can see it from your window?" Mika nodded. "You should go look once you get up there. Well…" He paused, searching for words. "I'll see you tomorrow. You'll come to my office at nine, correct?"

"Yup."

"Well… goodnight." He began to walk down the stairs, and Mika scurried up her own, glad that conversation was over and still embarrassed about the gardener spreading her story around.

He'd found her about three thousand years after she'd come to the dead end, when she'd given up and had sat there, face buried in her knees, legs hugged to her chest. After that, she'd been so covered in mud that she wouldn't care if she didn't ever get found, and maybe she could just lie there, not moving, until eventually she would die and her body would be preserved in mud. A thousand years from now, some advanced lifeform would find her fossil, the only one compltetely intact, since when bodies were buried, they weren't really preserved well, and her cadaver would do wonders for the science of the future. Mika hadn't really gotten around to asking herself why the future wouldn't already know what a human was, but she didn't care. Maybe human-type creatures in the future had limbs or appendages that became useless over time, and the future people would finally figure out why they had vestigial spines or something, like how whales had vestigial hips that seemed to mean they once walked the earth, or possibly just supported the theory of common ancestry. Then Mika began to wonder what 'whales' were, anyhow, and why thoughts about common ancestry suddenly sprang to her mind a lot of the time.

Shaking her head, as if trying to clear it, Mika opened her door and entered her room, closing it again behind her. As she walked over to her curtained window, curious to see what Giovanni had changed about the hedge maze, she broke the seal on the chocolate milk bottle. Then, when she'd reached the window, she pulled back the heavy pink curtain and prepared to cup her hands around her eyes to look out. After all, her room was lit, and it was dark outside. But she realized with a start that she didn't need to do this. It was bright enough outside anyway.

Where the maze had once stood was now a pile of twisted hedges, curled together, collapsed, diminished. A huge fire was raging amongst them, burning every last inch of the hedge maze, as if wiping it from existence.

Staring at it numbly, Mika couldn't move for a second. He had burned it down just because she'd gotten _lost_ in it? The thought of this somehow scared her. If a Pokemon bit her, would Giovanni order the extinction of them all? If she asked him to kill someone, would he?

She didn't know what to think, but she vaguely remembered that as she opened the bottle of chocolate milk and took a gulp, she wished it was a much stronger drink.

-x-

"_There!" smiled Mika's mother, pulling out the last batch of cookies, the ones with nuts on them. "That's all of them!"_

_Mika looked over all the cookies with a big grin on her face. It was nearly 5 am, and they probably wouldn't end up getting any more sleep, but the result was well worth it. The cookies looked perfect, and soon she'd get to eat them all! Well, she'd share them with her mother, of course._

"_They look good!" Mika said._

_Her mother nodded. "They do. But next time you have to make something for school, try to tell me before it's the middle of the night, okay?"_

"_Okay! But you'd still do it for me, right?"_

"_Well, yes. I'd do anything for you, Mika. But just try not to."_

"_You'd do anything for me?"_

"_Of course!" Mika's mother smiled at her strangely. "I love you more than anything else in the world, Mika." She knelt down and hugged her daughter._

"_Would you kill someone for me?" Mika asked, innocently._

_Her mother stared at her, then laughed. "Mika, that's a bit morbid."_

"_Still!" Mika pressed, though she didn't know what 'morbid' meant. "Would you?"_

"_Well, I guess so," her mom said, blinking. "But please don't ask me to."_

"_Don't worry, Mommy." She helped her mother put the cookies that had already cooled into the container she was going to take to school. "Thank you!"_

"_No problem, sweetie." Her mom yawned, rubbing her eyes tiredly._

"_Oh, by the way?" Mika asked._

"_Yes?"_

_Mika looked up at her, the epitome of innocence. "My teacher said that making food for the pot-lock is optional. What's that mean?"_

-x-

_Coming up next, Mika goes to work for Giovanni... Please review!_


End file.
